


La Cereza

by SonyB89



Series: The Cherry Connection - La Cereza [1]
Category: Narcos (TV)
Genre: Car Bombs, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Javier deserves love, Romantic Friendship, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, colleagues to friends to lovers, hunting a drug lord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:41:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27961697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonyB89/pseuds/SonyB89
Summary: Javier and Steve are burning midnight oil with paperwork at the office, when they get a call from Connie.Their INTERPOL colleague Sophie Wagner was involved in a car bombing.Javier decided to take his friend in, no questions asked - which starts Sophie and Javier off to a road from colleagues, to best friends and to maybe something more.
Relationships: Javier Peña/Original Female Character(s)
Series: The Cherry Connection - La Cereza [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047850
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	La Cereza

La Cereza

Sipping Whiskey over paperwork in the office may be frowned upon in the US, but in Colombia nobody gave a shit.  
And especially after hours, when people were burning through overtime and chasing bad guys, it was a given.

Steve and Javier were having one such night.  
“When was the last time it was just the two of us in here?”, Murphy asked, after a long drag of his cigarette, glancing at a third desk in the office that had been occupied by their female partner, Sophie Wagner.  
“Two years at least”, Peña sighed. „She deserves her time off, though.”  
“True.”  
“She’ll be back tomorrow?”  
“Four days of rest is what the Ambassador ordered. So yeah.”

Agent Sophie Wagner had been an unwelcome surprise for them both at first.  
With Escobar gaining more and more ground and his product reaching across the oceans, INTERPOL had sent an agent over to join the Escobar task force.

Sophie was, however, and she had no delusions about it, a token bunny.  
The pressure to send an agent from Europe had been enormous – so they had sent a female intelligence officer that nobody thought would get any work done; someone who “wouldn’t be missed in action at home.”  
In fact, she was almost invisible, because nobody expected anything from her.

Sophie was not a typical agent. She was chubby, for one thing. Not fat, but not thin either. She didn’t look fit to run after criminals.  
She would be described as ordinary looking. Brown, curly hair, glasses, a head shorter than most of her male colleagues at least. And a vicious craving for chocolate when her colleagues were yearning for alcohol.  
  
But Javier and Steve had learned a few things in their first two weeks with the INTERPOL agent.  
When she smiled at you, her smile lit up the whole room. And you instantly wanted to be friends with her and protect her at all cost at the same time.  
She was kind, fierce, extremely intelligent and despite her “un-agent-like” body, she could throw a wicked punch.  
And most importantly, she knew that her own headquarters didn’t expect much from her – so she was dead set on proving them wrong.

It didn’t take long for the three of them to become a well-oiled machine.  
It was true Sophie was not the fittest, but hunting down a drug lord took more than leg work.  
Sophie had figured out delivery routes, secret codes and messages despite her non-existent spanish, that had brought at least a dozen of Escobars sicarios behind bars.  
And for the last month or so, it had shown.  
After almost two years of constant work, she had finally looked damn tired and the Ambassador along with Sophies field commander had ordered her to take four days off work.  
  


It would be Murphys and Peñas last night in the office alone, before their colleague and friend was to return. And truth be told, they missed her.  
The phone on Steves desk interrupted the noises of the typewriter and the ticking of the clock that read 11:37 P.M.

“Murphy. Hey Connie… Woah, woah, honey, _calm down_.”

Peña looked up, stopping his typing, a frown on his face. He could hear Connies upset voice over the line but he couldn’t make out what she was saying.  
“What?! When? Is she still there? _Why the hell is she still there?!”_

Murphy stood up, signing for Peña to grab his things and pack up. Apparently, they had somewhere to be.  
“Don’t worry, honey, we’re going. We’ll take care of her. Stay at home with the baby. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Steve hung up, a grim expression on his face.

“What happened?”

“A car bomb went off in front of Sophies place. She’s hurt.”

Javier couldn’t tell if his stomach twisted because of worry or because of the late night whiskey. But deep down he knew that he was too much of a heavy drinker for that to bother him.

* * *

INTERPOL agents were housed in a different part of the city than DEA agents.  
Peña and Murphy had been at Sophies apartment building enough times to know the way, but tonight it took them longer to get through the streets crowded with police vehicles.  
  
When Javier finally turned the last corner and saw the flashing lights of two ambulances in front of Sophies apartment, he hit the brakes so hard Murphy was thrown into his seatbelt.

 _“Madre de Dios…“.  
  
_ The front of the building was just gone. Rubble, smoke, destruction everywhere.  
Javier didn’t even bother to look for a proper parking spot. He just rolled up a curve to be sure to leave the way for the ambulances clear, shut off the engine and jumped out.  
They didn’t even have to ask one of the police officers where to look.

Sophie was leaning against one of the ambulances, seemingly lost in thought.  
Her hair was still in a ponytail, but so messy it was coming undone.  
She was covered in ashes and dirt, wearing old sweatpants and a now dirty INTERPOL T-Shirt. Her left arm was holding her right elbow, her right arm pointing upward, sporting an angry bleeding gash from her forearm up to her palm.  
  
“I’ll check up with the police, Javi. Go.”  
Javier knew that Steve was also worried for her, but he was eternally grateful that he took himself back to check on the situation.  
  
“Sophie!”  
  
The woman looked up, the shock still obvious on her face.  
It seemed like she was looking for a ghost, not believing that Javier was really here.  
But he saw her face relaxing when he ran the last few steps towards her, tears pooling in her eyes.  
“Javi…”, she sighed and let herself be hugged carefully by her partner, burying her face in his shirt.

“ _Mi cereza,_ what happened? Why aren’t you at the hospital yet?”

Javier could feel Sophie chuckle in his arms. An exhausted chuckle, but a chuckle still. It made his heart skip a beat.  
She was always amused when he used the nickname _cereza_ on her. _Cherry_.  
A reminder of the one time she had put on heavy cherry red lipstick to prove that it looked amazing on her as well, and not just on Javiers shirt collars after his nights out with his “informants”.  
  
And he had commented that she looked like a Cherry ready to be ravished.  
She had blushed. They had joked. It had been nice. And the nickname had stayed.  
  
“I’m alright, Javi. I’m okay.”

Javier took Sophies face into his hands, carefully examining every spot he could see.  
Bruises were forming around one eye, one of her glasses had cracked.  
But other than that, and the still bleeding gash on her arm, she seemed fine.

“You’re not fine. You’re bleeding and you’re in shock. Why aren’t you at the hospital?”

“I was lucky, Javi. I was in the kitchen when the bomb went off, I only got thrown around a little. There’s people who are actually hurt. I can wait.”  
  
Javier looked up at the building and frowned. Lucky indeed. Had she been sleeping in her bed, instead of probably working at her kitchen desk, she would have been blown up.

A paramedic came and took her away for a few minutes. Cleaned her up and stitched up the wound on her arm right there in the ambulance.  
Javier did not leave her side.  
Steve joined them soon after, asking how she was, before laying the news on them.

“It was definitely a bomb planted by Escobars guys. How he got it through into this secluded area, nobody knows yet.”

Sophie sighed.  
“INTERPOL here in Colombia doesn’t have the same safety measures as the DEA, Steve. They do spot checks every now and then, but it’s a perfectly normal street. Every Colombian citizen can drive by.”

She looked up at what had been her temporary home, where the ashes and smoke were still settling.  
“I’m gonna have to buy new clothes.”, she deadpanned, groaning. "I'm gonna have to buy new _underwear_..."

While Sophie finished up with the paramedic who helped her get back on her feet, Murphy and Peña exchanged glances and a silent, unspoken conversation.  
“You’re staying at my place”, Javier informed her.

“B-But INTERPOL will get me a hotel room-“

“No buts. You’re staying with me. We’re not discussing this, _cereza_.”

Sophie must have been too exhausted to argue, or maybe she was just grateful that her friends were taking her in without hesitation.  
As soon as she got in the backseat of the car, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off.

* * *

  
That night, Javier told Connie that she was an angel in disguise when she bade him goodbye to retreat with her husband for the night.  
It was around 3 A.M. when the two of them left.  
  
Connie had been waiting in front of their apartment complex, wrapped Sophie in a tight hug and had taken care of everything.  
She had helped Sophie with showering and washing her hair.  
She had brought an extra blanket and a pillow, knowing well that Javier wasn’t prepared for guests that didn’t share his bed.  
Connie had also made sandwiches, tea and Javi had no idea why, but she somehow had found a pair of glasses that she could wear to not stumble around blind in his apartment.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t lend Sophie any clothes – they would not have fit.  
Sophie was by far not the first woman to sit naked on Javier Peñas bed, but she suspected she was the first wrapped up in a really big towel, watching him search his closet for clothes that might fit.

“Alright, _cereza_ , these might be a big oversized for you, but I think it should fit.”

Javier placed a fresh pair of boxer shorts and a faded DEA T-Shirt from the back of his closet on the mattress, as well as a pair of grey track suit pants.  
“We’ll get you something else to wear in the morning.”

He left then, giving his friend some privacy to dress.  
It didn’t take long for her to reemerge from his bedroom. Her legs were bare up to her thighs and yes, the DEA shirt was loose – up until the part where it was stretched by her breats.  
It was a nice look on her, he had to admit.

“The pants don’t fit?”, he asked, handing her a glass filled with golden liquid.  
Sophie was not one for drinking, but tonight she took the whisky gladly.  
“Too long”, she answered. “I keep stepping on the fabric. This will do for sleeping, thanks.”

Sophie sat down on the sofa, grabbing for the spare blanket Connie had brought, when she was interrupted by Javiers frown and confusion on his face.

“What?”, she asked.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Going to sleep? I’m knackered.”

Javier shook his head, sitting down next to her.

“You are _not_ going to sleep on my crappy couch after almost being blown up by a car bomb. You’ll take the bed.”

“But that will leave you on the crappy couch.”

“She knows me, she'll be gentle on my sorry ass.”

Sophie sighed, too tired to argue. She suddenly felt a slight tug on her arm.

“Didn’t Connie wrap your arm up in a new bandage after the shower?”

Sohpie nodded. “She did. And I went and messed it up earlier, trying to fit into this T-Shirt.”

Javier chuckled, removed the bandage and started wrapping her injured arm again.  
He noticed that his partner was fidgeting, on the verge of saying something, but not quite knowing how she should phrase what she wanted to say.

“What is it, _cereza_?”

“Javi… I-I don’t want to sleep alone tonight.”

Javier noticed the shaking then. The shock of the car bomb was finally wearing off.  
As Sophies body started to relax, so did her mind and it lost it’s focus.  
She leaned against him, exhausted, barely able to move.

There was nothing to discuss.  
Javier picked her up in his arms and made his way to his bedroom.

“I can walk”, she mumbled. “Javi, I’m too heavy.”

“You’re not, silly. Now lie down, I’ll be there in a sec.”

Javier wasn’t sure if Sophie even noticed him coming back after he had brushed his teeth and changed his clothes. She lay tangled in his sheets, like a bird who had crashed into a windshield, shivering from shock.  
It was the first time in this apartment that Javier hugged a woman in his bed without the thought of sex in his mind.  
  
His friend, his colleague, who he had almost lost, needed him near.  
And if he could help her, simply by holding her until morning came, then there was no decision to be made.

He felt the shivering subside, her breathing even out.  
And on this night, he thanked whatever god was watching, that she was still breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I am new to the Narcos fandom, and I am totally obsessed.  
> I do hope that my Original Character will find some love here.  
> My spanish is next to non-existent and english is not my native language, so I hope you'll be gentle with me.  
> This is part 1 of a planned series that I hope you will enjoy down the road. 
> 
> The story takes place in between situations in season 1 and 2.


End file.
